8 weeks!

8 weeks from now I will be snuggling a sweet, cuddly, 24 hour old newborn!!! I can't believe time is flying by so quickly and soon we'll be bringing our littlest girl home. We still have lots to do to prepare for her arrival and I anticipate all that keeping us plenty busy and that the next few weeks will be gone before we know it. I can't wait to see her little face, her little fingers and her little toes!

2 down, 1 to go!

Aaron has now refinished the crib and chest of drawers and only lacks painting the changing table!! The chest of drawers proved to be a bit of a challenge (the inside had to be rebuilt in order to replace the drawer guides among other things) but my handy hubby came through with ease. :) Once the changing table is done, we can get our guest bed out of the nursery and into the garage for storage and I can get the decorating done. It's looking like we may actually finish the room by early June like we'd hoped!

While Aaron was finishing up the chest of drawers the last couple days, I was busy creating some artwork for the nursery. I bought a ton of different size canvases when Michaels had them on sale a couple weeks ago and couldn't pass up the chance to create something (on the cheap) for the girls' room.

A few projects...

I just wanted to share a few projects that I've done this week. I've kinda been dabbling in everything and hope to start painting a couple canvases for the girls' room tonight. :)

Babylegs for Sydney

Of course sister wanted some too!

And so did brother!

Since I made the black, white & gray bow, she wanted a skirt to match so I made that for her today. I realized her babylegs would match about the time I was finishing up the skirt.

"Scrap" mobile for my littlest girl

Bows! Since I'm going to have two girlies to outfit with bows I figured I oughta learn how to make them.

Babylegs

I bought the knee socks to make these a couple months ago but just got around to getting them done. I laughed a little when I realized I had purchased the exact same 3 pack of socks that the tutorial's author used in the tutorial. Babylegs sell for about $12/pair but since I found my knee socks on clearance, I got three pair for $4.98!! They may not be store shelf worthy but they'll definitely serve their intended purpose.

Crawfish!

We had a crawfish boil with some old friends last night and the kiddos enjoyed torturing the poor crawfish and keeping the adults entertained. I never know what to expect with these two but, as usual, they didn't fail to keep us laughing.

First he played with them

Then he cooked them

Then he devoured them

She did the "typical girl" screech when it came to holding the live ones but obviously had no qualms about the ones that had been cooked.

But she's not much of a crawfish fan and went with sausage instead.

Another haircut!

It's amazing to me how haircuts can make my babies look totally different.

Before

After

A few new Seuss additions!

Baby bedding

So my Saturday was spent sewing and constructing Sydney's crib bumpers. Aaron's mom was kind enough to drive down and help me and there is absolutely NO way I could have done it alone. She kept us rolling and did all the cutting and pinning. I did most of the sewing but I'll hardly take the credit for the finished product. We ended up using all the fabrics I bought and the final result is rather busy but I think it will look great once it's all together and in the crib.

Sewing a basting stitch for the ruffles

Close up of the finished ruffles

All done!!

Hibiscus

I just love these flowering plants! They make me think of a remote, tropical place so bright and beautiful! When I was pregnant with Hannah and Aidan, I had this pitiful tiny little hibiscus that sat out front. The day we went for our 20 week ultrasound and discovered we would be the parents of TWO babies that plant had two blooms on it for the first time ever. Definitely one of those "God wink" occurrences and I sure wish I knew what I did with the photos. This year I decided to get a hibiscus tree and I've been trying to protect the poor thing from the crazy winds we've had lately. Sam's had orange, pink and red and although I LOVE pink, I decided to go with orange because they're just so darn pretty. Well imagine my surprise when I walked outside yesterday and saw both orange AND bright pink!!

Bathroom redo Seuss-style!

Since I don't have enough going on right now, I thought I'd throw in redoing the kids/guest bathroom. I loved Pottery Barn Kids' Dr. Seuss stuff but $30 or $40 for a shower curtain just seems a little silly to me. So I took the idea and decided to run with it. I got the shower curtain and a few other things at Target but I'm determined to make as much of the decor as possible.

This past weekend I sewed the ties for the shower curtain rings and painted the polka dot canvas which I'll be added a Dr. Seuss quote to. It's still very much a work in progress but I'm happy with it so far.

Easter weekend

We were blessed to have family visiting this past weekend to join us for Easter festivities. Aaron smoked a DELISH pork shoulder and everyone kept busy with sanding furniture for the nursery, shopping, snocones, jumping on the trampoline, yummy meals, an easter egg hunt and lots of pictures. Saturday morning, we took Hannah and Aidan to a park here in Hutto for the community. They were so overwhelmed by the mass of children running towards them to snatch up candy that they just clung to one another and managed to pick up a few pieces of candy each. I was so thankful I caught these moments on camera because it's one of THE sweetest things I've ever witnessed my children do.

As sweet as it was to witness them stick together in a "tough" situation, it was even more sweet to hear them retell the REAL reason we celebrate on Easter morning. We're pretty open about Santa and the Easter bunny being just for fun/pretend but the kids still enjoy the worldly traditions of eggs, candy and presents. It's so wonderful to see them always come back to Jesus and how important He is.

Easter is also one time of year that I try to coordinate all of us in matching attire. Since the weather was yucky we weren't able to get any great pictures outside but managed a few good ones indoors despite the cruddy lighting.